Nortel Networks' request last month to cut off health benefits for more than 4,000 retirees and their dependents has outraged and traumatized the company's ex-workers in the Triangle and other parts of the world.
In pleadings with the federal bankruptcy court that's overseeing Nortel's liquidation, some former workers have lashed out against the company and its executives. Many had worked for the company for two decades or more and now feel betrayed.
Nortel this month withdrew its request to terminate benefits. But the company told the court it may resubmit a similar request later.
The company, once North America's leading maker of switches and other telecom gear, told the court the retiree benefits are costing $2 million a month in health-care and long-term disability expenses.
The promised benefits are a lifeline for some former workers , because the alternatives are so much more expensive or not available. Some retirees use the Nortel benefits until they become eligible for Medicare, while others use them to supplement their Medicare coverage.
Nortel had arranged for the 4,019 retirees and dependents to sign on with United Healthcare for policies that don't require medical exams and don't reject applicants with pre-existing medical conditions. Butmany retirees say they can't afford that option.
Retiree fears death
"Nortel's decision to cancel my retirement benefits will hasten my death," retiree Marion Lewis wrote last week to the court. "I am told each day I remain alive gives researchers time to find new ways to prolong or save my life."
Lewis, who lives in Raleigh, told the court she has struggled with cancer for four years and requires two injections a day, one every 12 hours, to prevent the formation of blood clots. Her medication costs $3,736.74 a month.
She wrote to court that finding new coverage would increase her insurance premiums and prescriptions by $2,281.74 a month, or $27,380.88 a year.
"I am a single woman who relies on social security and my Nortel retirement to live," she wrote.
A Nortel spokesman couldn't be reached for comment. At its peak, Nortel employed 10,000 employees and contractors in Research Triangle Park. The company sought bankruptcy protection in January 2009.
Janet Wilkinson, also of Raleigh, could not conceal her anger when writing to the judge.
"I've researched and found that replacing these benefits will cost me about $1000.00 per month," she wrote. "Once again, the 'worker bees' are paying the price for 'management' mistakes and lies."
James Michael of New Hill implored the bankruptcy judge to consider the retirees' plight.
"Your Honor, I understand that I can't stop this bankruptcy," Michael wrote. "However, in your final conclusion, would it be possible to require Nortel to provide some reasonable compensation to its current retirees?
"I gave them 20 years of good honest work for those benefits," Michael wrote. "To take them away now just isn't right."
